Susan Granger’s review of “Rent” (Columbia Pictures)
“Chicago” and “Moulin Rouge” revived the movie musical and now there’s “Rent,” adapted from Jonathan Larson’s funky, Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway rock opera.
Inspired by Puccini’s “La Boheme,” it’s the story of a pivotal year in the life of eight bohemian artists living in New York’s East Village and struggling to express themselves, set against a backdrop of illness, homelessness and poverty. There’s Mark (Anthony Rapp), the narrator and aspiring documentary filmmaker who is besotted by Maureen (Idina Menzel), a hip, charismatic performance artist who loves Joanne (Tracie Thoms), a lawyer; Mark’s HIV-positive songwriter roommate Roger (Adam Pascal), who is attracted to smack-addicted, AIDS-stricken S&M dancer Mimi (Rosario Dawson); and Tom Collins (Jesse L. Martin) who is besotted by Angel (Wilson Jermaine Heredia), a drag queen. Meanwhile, Benny (Taye Diggs), threatens to evict them all to convert their dank, dilapidated tenement into a new sound recording studio.
Credit director Chris Columbus (“Home Alone”) for retaining six members from the original cast but what was once defiant and daring now seems a bit dated. The jarring blackouts between scenes break the suspension of disbelief, the “snow” is so fake that an entire outdoor sequence becomes contrived, and “Seasons of Love,” the most familiar tune, is repeated far too often. On the other hand, the theatrical contrivance of singing-rather-than-speaking works, particularly as handled by Jesse L. Martin, Adam Pascal, Idina Menzel and Anthony Rapp. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Rent” is a vibrant, energetic, exuberantly powerful 8. While this is certainly not the subject matter for a typical Hollywood musical, it’s all about tolerance and love.
